UPDATED: I met with Alan Boyd last week

[punkinhead]

On the subject of Dennis, and if anyone is reading this who has influence on these things (as Alan has suggested), pleasepleaseplease just release Wouldnt It Be NIce To Live Again. Just let us hear it. Surely there's not a person here who wouldn't rush out immediately and buy ANY BB release that included it? I'm sure numerous casual BB fans/music fans would also once the WIBNTLA reviews appeared.  

I can almost hear WIBNTLA in my head...at least the vocals, not the track...I can hear Denny singing it...is there any backing vocals to it? It'd be great if Blondie/Ricky were on it? The vocal I have in my head is much like his sensitive vocals in Be Still, A Time to Live in Dreams, and Cuddle Up.

Carl and Brian sing backgrounds. The lead vocal is the best one Dennis ever did IMO...including some soulful runs that will make you think its Carl for a second, but its Dennis.

Sounds amazing!!!

[Jim V.]

could you give us some more details on "Where is She" or the 1974 "California Feelin'"? How "complete sounding" is "Where Is She"? Releasable? How does Brian sound on it? And with "California Feelin'", I know the vocal overall seemed weird to you, but overall was it a good performance? Would you consider this release worthy either?

I took some notes on my phone to help me remember things. All I wrote about "Where Is She?" is that it was 2 & a half minutes, and was marked as an 'edit.' I guess it didn't knock me out, I don't really remember much else about it.

The track of the 1974 "California Feelin'" sounded OK to me, but BW's vocal sounded…. 'jokey,' if you know what I mean, like he was just laying it down for the lyrics, not even trying to sing it normally, so I guess maybe I wouldn't consider it good for a proper release.

Hmm. About them both being marked "edit"....were they both basically "complete" songs? How about "Little Red Book"? Was that the same one that's been circulating? Apparently from the Friends era? And the Carl sung "California Feelin'", that was the same version from the L.A. (Light Album) sessions? Same speed as the one that's circulating? And what about "Old Movie"? I know that was supposedly a catch-all title for a few of Dennis' songs from the early '70s era. Is it a totally different song from "Cuddle Up"?

I feel so thankful that you are being so cool about sharing what you remember. It's really cool of you. And hopefully we get to hear some of this stuff soon.

[adamghost]

I heard a later version of "California Feeling" once with a Brian vocal that I believe was from '78.  i don't think I had heard the one from '74...very cool!  The '78 one had a hysterical moment where he's singing "it was such a beautiful day" and he interjects quickly in spoken voice..."like most days!"  Clearly, not that interested in delivering a releasable vocal...

[Mikie]

Wasn't some of this stuff played at Boyd's "listening party" at his house after the Carl Wilson Walk in L.A.? The one where some Effwad absconded with some of the tapes? I recognize a few things that have been booted......

I know a few were played at a Connecticut Beach Boys fan convention, such as "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again".

[SG7]

Wasn't some of this stuff played at Boyd's "listening party" at his house after the Carl Wilson Walk in L.A.? The one where some Effwad absconded with some of the tapes? I recognize a few things that have been booted......

I know a few were played at a Connecticut Beach Boys fan convention, such as "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again".

I wasn't at that one but I went to a few of the other ones later ( 05 and 07). Those were great. A shame that they stopped.

[Mikie]

Time for one in California again.

[PongHit]

About them both being marked "edit"....were they both basically "complete" songs?

Sounded complete to me, yes.  Sorry I can't really answer your other questions; I'm not up to speed on what's circulating, and I'm not an expert on these things.

[PongHit]

… some Effwad absconded with some of the tapes? I recognize a few things that have been booted......

Alan told me about a cassette being stolen from a party, then turned into a bootleg.

[Jim V.]

I heard a later version of "California Feeling" once with a Brian vocal that I believe was from '78.  i don't think I had heard the one from '74...very cool!  The '78 one had a hysterical moment where he's singing "it was such a beautiful day" and he interjects quickly in spoken voice..."like most days!"  Clearly, not that interested in delivering a releasable vocal...

Brian singing "California Feelin'" in 1978....hmmm. Was that line as far as he got with it? Or did he sing the complete song? How did he sound? Assuming he was disinterested, he probably didn't sound too great.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

On the subject of Dennis, and if anyone is reading this who has influence on these things (as Alan has suggested), pleasepleaseplease just release Wouldnt It Be NIce To Live Again. Just let us hear it. Surely there's not a person here who wouldn't rush out immediately and buy ANY BB release that included it? I'm sure numerous casual BB fans/music fans would also once the WIBNTLA reviews appeared.  

I can almost hear WIBNTLA in my head...at least the vocals, not the track...I can hear Denny singing it...is there any backing vocals to it? It'd be great if Blondie/Ricky were on it? The vocal I have in my head is much like his sensitive vocals in Be Still, A Time to Live in Dreams, and Cuddle Up.

Carl and Brian sing backgrounds. The lead vocal is the best one Dennis ever did IMO...including some soulful runs that will make you think its Carl for a second, but its Dennis.

Sounds amazing!!!

See, if WIBNTLA was an unreleased Brian song/vocal everyone here would be going nuts - yet instead the whole discussion seems to have just been dropped and we've moved on to something else... Maybe this is why some of his stuff, no matter how good, still isn't seeing the light of day. Makes me think of that Jon Stebbins comment in the BBC Dennis doc: 'If River Song had been a Brian production people would've been going crazy!'

[hypehat]

Actually you're misquoting him, and normally I wouldn't give a fig but I find what he actually said really funny...


'If River Song had come out with a 'produced by Brian Wilson' credit, people would have died!'

Stebbins = OnTheeMoney 

[Wirestone]

Maybe I'm misreading the info in this thread, but it'll be a shame if there isn't a full on reissue of all the albums. It's been over 10 years since the twofers last got issued. Beach Boys fans have honestly been lucky up until this point that the releases have been so economical, but I'm ready for some deluxe editions. I've been suggesting this for a while, but I still think the best way to go would be something like they did for T.Rex, where alternate albums were made, given different covers and titles and styled as sort of alternate reality could have been albums. The Beach Boys are just begging for that treatment.   ...
I'd love for something really creative like that to be done. The problem with The Beach Boys is that lots of the best material isn't upfront in the band's catalog. It's really hard for the average listener to break into them because appreciating a lot of the regular albums as released is hard, and it's only when you start getting a sense of what could have been that you have an ah-ha moment and figure out how awesome they are.

There has been no mention of this in all the publicity. Only a new boxed set and some other, unspecified commemorative releases.

I don't want to be a Phil Cohen here, but it really doesn't look like what you're proposing is in the cards. I agree it would be a great project, but I think the CD market is basically dead, and the demand for BB catalog albums (as opposed to the hits and the singular exception of Pet Sounds) has always been pretty weak.

[Wirestone]

Actually you're misquoting him, and normally I wouldn't give a fig but I find what he actually said really funny...


'If River Song had come out with a 'produced by Brian Wilson' credit, people would have died!'

Stebbins = OnTheeMoney 

I wasn't aware that River Song or POB were lacking in critical or fan acclaim.

[hypehat]

But I thought, er, the way he put it was quite... well... at least I thought it was... y'know, funny, and... I'll get me coat.


Plus, critical/fan acclaim aside, you weren't able to buy the damn thing for 25+ years!

[Mikie]

See, if WIBNTLA was an unreleased Brian song/vocal everyone here would be going nuts - yet instead the whole discussion seems to have just been dropped and we've moved on to something else... Maybe this is why some of his stuff, no matter how good, still isn't seeing the light of day. Makes me think of that Jon Stebbins comment in the BBC Dennis doc: 'If River Song had been a Brian production people would've been going crazy!'

I believe that is incorrect. If you've been around Beach Boys message boards long enough, you would have seen many, many threads concerning unreleased and alternate versions of Beach Boys and solo tracks in the archives. Brian, Dennis, whomever. And "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again" has always been at the top or near the top of those wish lists for many years. So has Bambu. So has Smile. So has a Beach Boys live box. Dennis Wilson music is still as popular as ever in the Beach Boys fan community. The Sony Legacy POB/Bambu sales was pretty good, huh?

[runnersdialzero]

Extremely puzzled as to why "WIBNTLA?" has taken so long to release, sounds spectacular. Was it just a matter of waiting for the right time? Hopefully that time being an archiving release for the 50th anniversary? ^_^

I heard a later version of "California Feeling" once with a Brian vocal that I believe was from '78.  i don't think I had heard the one from '74...very cool!  The '78 one had a hysterical moment where he's singing "it was such a beautiful day" and he interjects quickly in spoken voice..."like most days!"  Clearly, not that interested in delivering a releasable vocal...

This has to be heard. It sounds too good. And for those in power paying attention, no editing/trickery as with a lot of recent releases - with the "like most days!" ad-lib, please

Same goes for the '74 demo, as well as the Carl-sung late 70s take. There are so many versions of this song, and it sounds like they were all a bit compromised in one way or another - shame, as it's a pretty decent song. The Carl take is the best I've heard and, from the sounds of it, the best out there.

[Ebb and Flow]

I really hope the version of Little Bird with track + BGV gets released this year along with any other unbooted late 60's rarities.  If we can't get stereo versions of Smiley Smile/Wild Honey it would be nice to hear some more outtakes from that period.

And there's a demo of Be With Me?  Maddening how many of these things are sitting in the vault unheard.  They really should make a collection of just demos.  Release them on iTunes or something.

[adamghost]

I heard a later version of "California Feeling" once with a Brian vocal that I believe was from '78.  i don't think I had heard the one from '74...very cool!  The '78 one had a hysterical moment where he's singing "it was such a beautiful day" and he interjects quickly in spoken voice..."like most days!"  Clearly, not that interested in delivering a releasable vocal...

Brian singing "California Feelin'" in 1978....hmmm. Was that line as far as he got with it? Or did he sing the complete song? How did he sound? Assuming he was disinterested, he probably didn't sound too great.

He sang the whole thing.  Disinterested would be a good way to be put it.

[stack-o-tracks]

I really hope the version of Little Bird with track + BGV gets released this year along with any other unbooted late 60's rarities.  If we can't get stereo versions of Smiley Smile/Wild Honey it would be nice to hear some more outtakes from that period.

And there's a demo of Be With Me?  Maddening how many of these things are sitting in the vault unheard.  They really should make a collection of just demos.  Release them on iTunes or something.

Record companies would rather not waste the time releasing stuff there wouldn't be a big market for. Beachboyscentral would be the place. Let people have the option of what songs, file types, bit rates, etc of all the "unmarketable" stuff.

I'm sure if we yell loud enough we can get some demos released but in the same vein as Hawthorne, CA, where there's different versions of songs we've already heard, sprinkled with the good stuff like A Time To Live In Dreams.

PROVE ME WRONG, BROTHER, CAPITOL, CARIBOU, BRIMEL, WHOEVER ELSE IS LURKING HERE READING MY WORDS.

[buddhahat]

My impression of "Barnyard" was that it was a bit bland compared to Dennis' other material from that period. Knowing it was a DW/CW collaboration from '74 might have had my expectations too high, and I haven't heard it in a few years so maybe I'd have a different opinion now. But hearing it for the first time along with things like "Holy Man" and "C*cktails", it seemed to pale in comparison.

Compared to "Holy Man", most things seem pale.   Just to be 100% sure: Denny never actually recorded any vocals for "Holy Man", right? Taylor Hawkins did the vocals according Gregg Jakobson's memories of Dennis singing some of it?

Right-ish. There was a snippet of Carl humming the melody line on the session tape...nothing usable, but between that and Dennis' piano and synth lines i think the melody was inherent. Gregg isn't really a melody guy, so that was sorted without his help...he did write the new lyrics. BTW...thinking back to "Barnyard"...I was hoping for something like the other 1974/75 period DW/CW collaborations "River Song", "Rainbows"...and yes "Holy Man" (there are those of us who feel Carl had a hand in that one too). When I heard "Barnyard" it didn't seem to come close to the dynamic quality of the others...and unreleased seemed like a logical place for it to be. I'm sure others might feel differently as music is so dang subjective...right board?

Jon - I'd be interested to hear your opinion of Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again. Does it stand up against Dennis' best work? Worth all the hype?

[punkinhead]

Was WIBNTLA prepared for release when the Surf's Up DVD-A was being readied? I know it didnt really materialize, but just wondering how far it went.




Also, I think WIBNTLA would be a fantastic ending to the Surf's Up album rather than SU, ( I know I'm gonna get linched for that.) But it works so well...just as well as a Day in the  Life of a Tree is a great predecessor to Til' I Die through a life/death through nature, WIBNTLA would be such a good follow up to Til I Die, it just makes since...and to me, it's like a response song to Brian and Til' I Die...just like Long Promised Road is meant for Brian (from Carl). I do see how Surf's Up is a great follow up song to Til I Die as well, but perhaps it coulda had a different place in the scattered Smile history.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Jon - I'd be interested to hear your opinion of Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again. Does it stand up against Dennis' best work? Worth all the hype?

I'm not Jon, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it stacks up with Dennis best work and is one of the most awesome unreleased BB tracks I've ever heard. Forget the "Golden Slumbers" comparison, that's misleading. It is staggeringly, majestically wonderful. IMHYEO. 

[Jon Stebbins]

My impression of "Barnyard" was that it was a bit bland compared to Dennis' other material from that period. Knowing it was a DW/CW collaboration from '74 might have had my expectations too high, and I haven't heard it in a few years so maybe I'd have a different opinion now. But hearing it for the first time along with things like "Holy Man" and "C*cktails", it seemed to pale in comparison.

Compared to "Holy Man", most things seem pale.   Just to be 100% sure: Denny never actually recorded any vocals for "Holy Man", right? Taylor Hawkins did the vocals according Gregg Jakobson's memories of Dennis singing some of it?

Right-ish. There was a snippet of Carl humming the melody line on the session tape...nothing usable, but between that and Dennis' piano and synth lines i think the melody was inherent. Gregg isn't really a melody guy, so that was sorted without his help...he did write the new lyrics. BTW...thinking back to "Barnyard"...I was hoping for something like the other 1974/75 period DW/CW collaborations "River Song", "Rainbows"...and yes "Holy Man" (there are those of us who feel Carl had a hand in that one too). When I heard "Barnyard" it didn't seem to come close to the dynamic quality of the others...and unreleased seemed like a logical place for it to be. I'm sure others might feel differently as music is so dang subjective...right board?

Jon - I'd be interested to hear your opinion of Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again. Does it stand up against Dennis' best work? Worth all the hype?

Well the hype started many years ago after a few of us got to hear it, and then started hyping it. So I'm one of the initial hypers. My take has always been that its a beautiful song, great lyric, great production, cool arrangement etc... Too good to be unreleased considering  the material that made BB's LPs in 71/72...this blows many of them (not all) out of the water. But that said, the one thing that REALLY sets WIBNTLA apart from the herd...the lead vocal is simply the best one Dennis ever sang. Yes he's great on Slip On Through, Forever, Barbara...there are some great Dennis leads that are out there...but WIBNTLA is the best of them all in my opinion. He just sings the crap out of it, and upon hearing it you really understand that he had a voice that (for a brief period and in its own way) was as good as his brothers.

[pixletwin]

Reading this thread was a bad idea. I am getting an itch that ain't gonna be scratched anytime soon. 

[Mikie]

Quite a few years before "Barbara" was released on the Endless Harmony CD, the song was circulating amongst collectors, albeit in inferior sound quality compared to the released version. Another one that I always wished could be released was "I've Got A Friend", which was on the first live bootleg album I ever picked up in the 70's, BB Madison Sq. Garden '72 (which was actually Princeton University). Anyway, the studio instrumental track supposedly exists to the song, but unfortunately Dennis never put down a vocal for it. Not sure if more than one live version exists, but it would be nice to have it cleaned up and included on a live comp.

Dunno if it was ever considered to pull a "Taylor Hawkins" and have him (or someone else) do a vocal for that, but I'd hate to see that track go to waste. Song reminds me a lot of "Barbara" and I think Dennis even wrote it for Barbara, didn't he?